Cabinet structure for vending machines



July 31, 1956 w. F. SHEPHERD 2,

CABINET STRUCTURE FOR VENDING MACHINES Filed Sept. 13, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 31, 1956 w. F. SHEPHERD CABINET STRUCTURE FOR VENDING MACHINES Filed Sept. 15. 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 31, 1956 W. F. SHEPHERD CABINET STRUCTURE FOR VENDING MACHINES Filed Sept. 15, 1954 H 4o L1 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 y 31, 1956 w. F. SHEPHERD 2,757,060

CABINET STRUCTURE FOR VENDING MACHINES Filed Sept. 13, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 1 w? E fee "31 1 AZ ,-c 2 4,5 ldz W65 July 31, 1956 w. F. SHEPHERD 2,757,060

CABINET STRUCTURE FOR VENDING MACHINES Filed Sept. 13, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Unitfi tates Patent rm w l a, 1

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CABINET STRUCTURE non VENDING MACHINES William F. Shepherd, deceased, late of Cincinnati, Ohio, by The First National Bank of Cincinnati, Ohio and Lucien Wulsin, .lr., Cincinnati, Ohio, executors Application September 13, 1554, Serial No. 455,470

3 Claims. (Cl. 312-222) This invention relates to coin operated vending machines and is directed in particular to a cabinet structure for such machines in which any desired delivery and coin mechanism may be used. The present invention constitutes an improvement over the disclosure of my copending patent application Serial No. 222,769 filed April 25, 195i.

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a cabinet structure of the type set forth which is attractive, which is immune to entry by ordinary hand tools, and which may be serviced by a man of very little mechanical skill.

In the fulfillment of this objective, I provide a cabinet structure in which all possible means of access to the mechanism inside of the cabinet are enclosed by three elements, two of these elements are wings which are removably attached to the two sides of the pedestal portion of the cabinet, and the third is a front closure member which is adapted to seat upon the pedestal to enclose the front of the cabinet in which the articles to be dispensed are housed.

One of the novel features of the invention resides in the interrelationship of these three elements. Of the three, the front closure member is the key element in the combination. The two wings at the sides of the pedestal are arranged to be locked into place by the front closure member when it is in place. A novel key-operated latch device is provided to lock the front closure member in place. With it locked, it is impossible to remove the other two elements, the two side wings. Thus, only one key operated lock is required in the combination.

Another novel feature of the invention is the means provided to mount the front closure member, which means not only serves a security function but it also serves to facilitate the servicing of the machine. In the preferred embodiment, the front closure member is mounted for vertical sliding movement at the front of the stacks which house the packages to be vended. When unlatched, the front closure member is adapted to be slid upwardly to an elevated position in which the stacks are exposed. The key-operated latch, in conjunction with other elements of the structure, is adapted to retain the front closure member in this elevated position so that it is not necessary for the man servicing the machine to completely remove the front closure member. The keyoperated latch is designed, however, to permit the removal of the closure member if desired.

Other objectives and features of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a vending ma chine cabinet structure embodying the principles of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view thereof showing the front closure member in elevated position.

v Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional-view taken on the line 33 of Figure l. p v Figure 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional viewtaken 2 on the line 4-4 in Figure 1 showing the latch device which is employed to secure the front closure member.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 showing the latch device in unlocked condition.

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 4 in which the latch device is in position to hold the front closure member in elevated position.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken on the line 7--7 of Figure 2 illustrating the details of construction of one of the wings which are employed to enclose the sides of the pedestal portion of the cabinet structure.

Figure 8 is a cross sectional View taken on the line 88 of Figure 7.

Figure 9 is a view similar to Figure 7 showing a wing in position to be swung away from the side of the pedestal.

Figure 10 is a view similar to Figure '8 showing a wing being removed from the side of the pedestal.

Figure 11 is an enlarged fragmentary front elevational view of the cabinet structure in which the front closure member is removed to illustrate the channel shaped ways upon which the front closure member slides.

Figure 12 is a side elevational view of that portion of the cabinet structure illustrated in Figure 11.

Figure 13 is a cross sectional view taken on a vertical plane which passes through the front closure member from front to back.

Figure 14 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken on the line 1414 of Figure 11 illustrating details of construction at a side of the magazine.

Reference is now made to Figures 1 and 2 which show the major elements of the cabinet structure. In general the cabinet structure comprises a pedestal portion 10, which in the present instance is mounted upon a rectangular storage cabinet 11, an open faced magazine 12 which extends upwardly'from the pedestal at the rear thereof, a front closure member 13 which is slidably associated with magazine 12, and a pair of wings 14 which enclose the respective opposite sides of pedestal 10.

The pedestal, which may be made in accordance with conventional sheet metal fabricating techniques, consists of a box-like member in which the delivery mechanism for vending articles may be mounted. The back of the pedestal is enclosed by a panel of sheet metal which may or may not be fabricated as a continuation of the rear of the magazine portion 12 of the structure. The two sides at the rear of the pedestal are also enclosed by sheet metal strips which may be bent forward from the back panel of the pedestal. The lower portion of the pedestal at the front thereof is enclosed by a panel 15 having slots therein through which delivery plungers such as those indicated at 16 may project. The upper portion of the pedestal at the front thereof is closed by an apron 17. A space 18 between the lower edge of apron 17 and the upper edge of panel 15 provides an opening to the platform onto which the articles are delivered upon manipulation of the plungers.

The significant feature of the pedestal structure is that entry into the vending machine mechanism housed within the pedestal cannot be made from the front or from the rear thereof. This may be done only through, or at the two sides, which sides are enclosed by the wings 14. Following conventional sheet metal fabrication techniques the two sides of the pedestal at the insides of the wings may consist of metal plates which journal and otherwise support the various elements which makeup the delivery mechanism. In addition to this, in the present instance, the right side of the pedestal inside of the wing may have mounted upon it a coin detector and other conventional vending machine parts associated with a coin detector device. All bolts and other readily'removable fasteners, by meansof which" entry could be 3v gained to the mechanism enclosed with the pedestal, are also disposed at the sides of the pedestal in the area thereof adapted to be enclosed by the wings 14-14. It will be seen, therefore, that with the front closure member 13 locked into place, as shown in Figure 1, and with the two wings 1414 locked into place, it is virtually impossible for a person to break into the machine using ordinary hand tools.

As will be described in detail at a later point each wing is arranged so that it may be engaged with a side of the pedestal and then pushed down into position in which it is locked against withdrawal in all directions except upwardly. One of the functions of the front closure member 13 is to prevent such upward movement of the wings. The respective opposite sides of the front closure member are adapted to seat on top of the two wings when the closure member is closed. It will be seen, therefore, that to maintain the security of the cabinet structure, it is necessary to provide only one keyoperated lock, which lock is arranged to hold the front closure member in its lowermost position against the front of the magazine 12.

The wings The two wings are of substantially identical construction except that they are mirror images of one another. For this reason it is believed that a description of the one at the right side of the machine will be sufiicient to enable anyone skilled in the art to produce both of them. It is preferred that each wing be made from sheet metal which is formed into a substantially rectangular, boxlike structure which is open at the side adjacent to the pedestal. Each wing comprises an outer wall 19, a front wall 20, a back wall 21, a top 22 and a bottom 23. For the sake of appearance, it is preferred that the corner of the wing at the top-front be rounded as shown in Figure 2. Referring now to Figures 7-10, the front wall has a locking flange 24 turned inwardly from the inner edge thereof at a right angle. This flange serves a security function to be described later. The bottom wall also has a flange thereon which is turned upwardly at the inner side of the wing. The upper edge of this flange is configurated to provide an inverted channel 25. As will be seen in Figure 8, inverted channel 25 terminates short of the front and back walls of the wing. The inner edge of top wall 22 is also flanged as at 26, in this instance, to provide a strengthening rib. At the inside of the wing near the top thereof there is a lock strip 27. This strip has a pair of tabs turned downwardly at the respective opposite ends thereof, which tabs may be spot welded to the respective front and back walls of the wing. The strip is disposed parallel with the top and bottom walls and has a flange 28 turned downwardly at the inner edge thereof, which flange also performs a security function to be described later. The back wall 21 of the wing is the only one which is not flanged. The inner edge of this wall extends beyond the wing to provide a guide edge 29, the function of which will be described later.

As shown in Figures 7-10, each of the two sides of the pedestal portion of the cabinet structure which are enclosed by the wings has a side plate 30 fastened thereto. Each side plate may be an integral part of, or one of the structural members of the pedestal. (Additional details of construction are disclosed in copending patent application Serial No. 455,469, filed September 13, 1955.) For the purposes of this disclosure, it is significant only that the side plates 30 be rigid and have parts complementing the various flanges on the wing. More specifically, the top edge of; side plate 30 has a flange 31 turned outwardly therefrom, the respective front and back edges also being similarly flanged as at 32 and 33. A bottom flange 34 is also provided on the side wall, which flange is turned both downwardly and upwardly to provide a channel 35 which is designed to receive the channel 25 in interlocking, nesting relationship as may be seen in Figure 7. The flange 32 along the front edge of plate 30 resides just behind the apron 17 and panel 15, at the end thereof. The latter two elements have a vertically disposed angle strip 36 secured to them, which angle strip includes a flange 37 which turns outwardly from the front of the cabinet structure to serve a locking function in conjunction with the looking flange 24 which is turned inwardly from the front wall 24) of the wing. The flange 33 at the back edge of plate 30 cooperates with the front face of a hollow post construction 38 at the rear of the pedestal, to provide a vertical slot or groove 39 designed to receive the guide edge 29 which is at the rear of the wing.

To install the wing illustrated, it is placed at a side of the pedestal at an angle and with the lock flange 24 engaged with the angle strip 36 as shown in Figure 10. The rear portion of the wing then may be swung in to engage the guide edge 29 in vertical slot 3). This must be done with the wing in a relatively elevated position so that the interlocking channels 25 and 35 at the lower edge of the wing are clear of one another and so that the flange 28 is clear of the upper edge of end plate 30. With the guide edge 29 thus engaged in slot 39, the wing then may be pushed down to engage the respective locking channels 25 and 35. In this position the flange 28 at the inside of the wing also engages behind the upper edge of end plate 3t If desired, the storage cabinet 11 upon which the pedestal seats may ex tend outwardly beyond the respective sides of the pedestal so that the bottom wall 23 of the wing seats upon it when the wing is locked as illustrated in Figures 1 and 7.

Coin detector mechanism secured to the outer face of side plate 30, in the position shown by the dot-dash lines 40 in Figures 7 and 8, is enclosed by the wing as well as all fasteners on the side plates 3% by which entry may be gained into the dispensing mechanism located inside of the pedestal. In addition, the front of the wing adjacent to the top edge thereof may support a bent coin release plunger 41 and the elements usually associated with such a mechanism. Furthermore, a plate 42 at the bent coin release plunger may have a slot therein to receive coins.

In the instance shown, the bottom wall 23 of the wing has an opening 43 therein which aligns with an opening 44 in the storage cabinet 11 when the wing is locked in place. These openings may be used to chute coins from the coin detector into a collection box located inside of the storage cabinet.

The significant feature of the wings is that when they are in place they are locked against movement in all directions except upward movement.

F ront closure member The front closure member 13 consists of a frame having side members 45-45, a top member 46 and a member at the lower end thereof which is in the nature of a sill, indicated generally by the numeral 47. The frame mounts a glass panel 48 which may be secured in place by a plurality of large headed metal screws such as those shown at 49. A rubber gasket may be employed to protect the edges of the glass panel. In the machine shown, the open faced magazine 12 is disposed on a slant with the top set back slightly from thebottom. The purpose of this slant is to facilitate the loading of articles to be dispensed and to make it possible to have the article open to display through the glass panel, inasmuch as it is unnecessary to provide a means to hold the articles in the stacks at the front of the magazine. The front closure member shown, therefore, is arranged so that it also has a slanting front. For this purpose, each of the side members 45 tapers upwardly from the base to the top. The shape of each side member is best seen in the cross section provided in Figure 3. The rear edge of each side member is turned inr wardly at and then forwardly to provide a rectangular channel 50, which opens to the front. The front edge of each side member is also turned inwardly at 90 to provide a flange 51 to which the glass panel is aflixed. The top member 46 also has a flange turned inwardly, but at an angle to conform to the slant of the closure member, the latter flange being indicated at 52. The rear edge of the top member is also flanged as at 53 for strength purposes, the latter flange being turned down at 90 and spot Welded to an extension of the channel St). The two opposite sides of the top member may also be turned down to embrace the respective side wall portions of the side members 45.

As will be seen in Figure 13, the upper end of channel 50 for a distance approximately of the total height thereof is cut out to provide a shoulder 54. The lower end of channel 50 is also cut out in the same manner to provide a shoulder 55. In general, these two shoulders cooperate with a latch device to be presently described, the shoulder 54 being contacted by the latch device to lock the front closure member in down position and the shoulder 55 operating in conjunction with the same latch device to hold the front closure member in an elevated position. As will be seen the shoulders 54 and 55 are necessary only at the right side of the machine which is the one having the latch device associated with it;

The sill 4-7, which extends across the bottom portion of the front closure member extends forwardly so as to close that part of the machine between the top of apron 17 and the magazine 12. The sill itself is curved for the sake of appearance and at its forward edge is turned under, back upon itself and then downwardly to provide a right angular seat 56 which is adapted to engage the top edge of apron 17, the upper edge of the apron being configurated to fit within the seat. The rear edge of the sill is turned up to provide a flange 57, which flange extends across the lower portion of the glass panel 48. A metal angle bar 58 which may be spot welded to the underside of the sill along the rear edge thereof which is beneath flange 57 is provided to strengthen the sill. The opposite ends of angle bar 58 are turned over at right angles to provide tabs 59 and these tabs may be spot welded to straps 60, one strap being provided at each side of the front closure member. Each strap is disposed at an angle and has its forward end secured to the flange part of the sill which constitutes seat 56. The opposite end of each strap 60 may be spot welded to the inner face of the adjacent side member.

If desired, rubber gasket strips such as those shown in Figure 13 at 61 may be employed to protect the glass panel. Similar strips may be employed to seal the juncture between the opposite ends of the sill and the inner faces of the respective flanges 26 of the two wings. The lower edges of the side members 45-45 are also provided with rubber bumper strips 62 which serve to seal the juncture between these members and the top walls of the wings.

From Figure l of the drawings it will be apparent that the lower edges of the two side members 45 rest on top of the respective wings when the front closure member is down and locked and the wings are in their down and locked positions. Under these circumstances the sill 47 of the front closure member resides between the tops of the two wings. It will be apaprent, therefore, that the two wings cannot be raised to free them so long as the front closure member is down and locked.

As suggested above, the open faced magazine 12 is configurated at the two rear corners thereof to provide hollow post structures 38-38 which rigidify and strengthen the assembly. The hollow post structures are formed in the present embodiment by turning the respective sides of the back panel forwardly as at 63 and then turning them inwardly as at 64 and then forwardly again as at 65. This provides three sides of the hollow post construction plus the flange extending forwardly at 65. The fourth side is provided by an angle strip 66 which has a flange 67 at he rear thereof which may be spot welded to the back panel of the magazine. The angle strip extends forwardly from flange 67 and may be spot welded to the flange pro vided at 65. The angle member extends beyond flange 65 and is turned outwardly and then to the rear to provide a channel-way 68 which opens to the rear. It is this channel-way which slidably receives the channel member 50 on each of the sides of the front closure. At the left side of the cabinet, the channel-way 63 may extend from a point adjacent to the top of the magazine to a point adjacent to the lower end thereof. On the right side, however, the upper end of the channel-way stops at a considerably lower point to provide space above it for the latch device now to be described in detail.

Latch device The latch device is key-operated and is mounted in the hollow post structure provided at the right side of the magazine. The post structure is not closed at the inner side thereof adjacent to-the latch, however, inasmuch as the angle strip 66 terminates below the latch to provide operating clearance.

The latch may employ a conventional tumbler which is indicated at 69. The outer end of the tumbler assemblyis mounted in an appropriately shaped aperture in the side wall of the magazine. The inner end of the tumbler may be secured by means of a nut 70 to a mount plate'71. The plate may, in turn, be mounted upon a metal angle bracket 72 spot welded or otherwise fastened to the back panel of the magazine. The inner end of the tumbler has a latch dog 73 affixed thereto and the tumbleris so arranged that the latch dog may be moved, upon the insertion of the key into the tumbler, through approximately 90 from a position in which it is substantially vertical, as shown by the dot-dash lines 74 in Figure 4, to a position in which it extends substantially horizontally toward the front of the magazine, as shown in Figure 5. p

The latch dog 73 controls the movement of a slidable latch plate 75 which is the actual locking member of the latch assembly. The slidable latch plate is also mounted upon the angle bracket 72. The plate 75 has a pair of slots 7 676 cut into it, which slots are traversed by bolts 77 secured to the bracket. Anti-friction bushings, such as those shown at 78 may be used on the bolts within the slots. From Figure 4 it will be noted that the slots 7676 are canted with respect to the vertical, so that upward movement also results in a forward motion of the latch plate. The central portion of the plate surrounding latch dog 73 is open and a pair of spaced lugs 7979 are struck over from the plate respectively above and below this area, which lugs are adapted to be contracted by latch dog 73. In the instance shown, when the key for the latch, indicated generally by the numeral 80, is vertically disposed the latch dog depends vertically and is in contact with the lower one of the two lugs 79 such that the latch plate is held in its lowermost position. Turning the key 90 swings the dog '73 into the position shown in Figure 5, and into contact with the upper one of the lugs 79 which both raises and moves the plate forwardly. The forward edge of the latch plate is turned outwardly and then to the rear to provide a vertical channel-way 81 which is substantially identical in configuration to the channel-way 68 on the magazine. When the latch dog is swung into the horizontal position the slidable latch plate is moved out so that it, in efiect, becomes a continuation of the channel-way 68. When the latch plate is moved downwardly and inwardly it becomes, in effect, a block within the channel-way 68. In the latter position, with the front closure member in its lower, closed position the lower end of the latch plate rests upon top of the shoulder 54 provided at the upper end of the channel 54). Under these circumstances, the front closure member is locked against removal. When, on the other hand, key 80 is turned to move the slidable latch plate upwardly and outwardly the channel portion 81 is aligned vertically with channel-way 68, the lower end. of the slidable latch plate is clear of shoulder 54, and the front closure member is free to be raised straight up, sliding on channel-way 68. When the front closure member is raised to a point to bring shoulder 55, which 'isat the lower end of the channel 50, to a point above the upper end of the slidable latch plate, the front closure member may be tipped forward slightly and thus held in raised position. In this condition, the stacks, in which articles to be dispensed are placed, in front of the magazine are open and can, therefore, be filled or otherwise attended to without the service man having to completely remove the front closure member.

In substance, the latch member which I provide performs the double function of securely locking the front closure member in its closed position and of holding it in raised position. In the first function it also serves to hold the two removable side wings down so they cannot be removed. The one latch, therefore, in effect locks all three of the removable parts of the cabinet structure. To replenish the supply of packages in the machine the service man need only unlock the front closure member and slide it to the top of magazine 12. This exposes all of the articles stacked in the magazine and makes it possible for the service man to remove the side wings, to attend to the coin detector mechanism or to service all of the other parts of the machine to which access may be gained by their removal.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a vending machine cabinet structure, a pedestal adapted to enclose article vending mechanism, a side plate at each of the two sides of said pedestal, said side plates having readily removed fastening means associated therewith by which entry may be gained into the delivery mechanism enclosed within the pedestal, a wing adapted to enclose each of said side plates and the removable fastening means asssociated therewith, each of the respective wings adapted to be moved into a lowered position, means to hold said wings in their lowered positions against movement in every direction except upward movement, an open faced magazine extending upwardly from the rear of said pedestal, a front closure member slidably engaged on the front of said open faced magazine and being adapted for movement between a lower position in which the front of said open faced magazine is closed and an upper position in which the front of said open faced magazine is open, said front closure member adapted to rest upon top of the respective wings when they and the front closure member are in their said lowered positions, a latch device, key-operated means adapted to iove said latch device into a position to block the movement of said front closure member relative to said open faced magazine at each of said positions whereby in the lowered position of the front closure member the latch device serves to lock both the front closure member and the respective wings and whereby in the upper position of the front closure member the latch device serves to hold the front closure member above and removed from said wings whereby they may be elevated to free them from the respective side plates.

2. In a vending machine cabinet structure, a pedestal adapted to enclose article delivery mechanism, an open faced magazine extending upwardly from said pedestal at the rear thereof, a pair of channel-ways disposed respectively adjacent to the opposite side edges of said open faced magazine in spaced parallel relationship, a front closure member, saidfront closure member having a channel at each of the opposite sides thereof adapted to slidably engage the respective channel-ways on the open faced magazine, one of said channel-ways terminating short of the upper end of said open faced magazine, a latch plate mounted upon said magazine above the upper end of the short channel-way, said latch plate having a channel portion which is similar in configuration to. said channel-way and which is disposed parallel to said channel-way, key-operated means to move said slidable latch plate from a position in which the channel portion thereof is in longitudinal alignment with said channel-way and a position in which said channel portion of the latch plate blocks said channel-way, a pair of shoulders disposed in longitudinally spaced relationship on the channel of the front closure member which is slidably engaged in the channel-way having the latch plat associated therewith, one of said shoulders being positioned to engage said latch plate when the front closure member is in a closed position for locking said front closure member in this position and the other of said shoulders being positioned to engage said latch member when the front closure is raised to expose the front of said open faced magazine to hold said front closure member in said raised position, a pair of wings, each of said wings adapted to enclose a side of said pedestal, and each of said wings being engageable with a side of said pedestal and movable vertically between a raised position in which said wing is free to be removed and a lowered position in which said wing is restrained against movement in all directions except upward movement, said front closure member adapted to engage the tops of the respective wings and restrain them against said upward movement when said front closure member is in its lowered and closed position, whereby the key-operated means serves to latch said wings in addition to latching said front closure member.

3. In a vending machine cabinet structure, a pedestal adapted to enclose vending delivery mechanism, an open faced magazine extending upwardly from the pedestal at the rear thereof, a pair of channel-ways disposed respectively adjacent to the opposite sides edges of said open-faced magazine in spaced parallel relationship, a front closure member, said front closure member having a channel at each of the opposite sides thereof adapted to slidably engage the respective channel-ways of the open faced magazine, a latch plate mounted upon the magazine adjacent to the upper end of one of said channel ways, said latch plate having a channel portion which is similar in configuration to said channel-way and which is arranged in parallelism with said channel-way, key-operated means to move said slidable latch plate from a position in which the channel portion thereof is in alignment with said channel-way and a position in which the channel portion of said latch plate blocks said channelway, and a pair of shoulders disposed in vertically spaced relationship on the channel of the front closure member which is slidably engaged in the channel-way having the latch plate associated therewith, one of said shoulders being positioned to engage said latch plate when the front closure member is in a lowered, closed position for locking said front closure member in this position, and the other of said shoulders being positioned to engage said latch member when the front closure member is raised to expose the front of said open faced magazine and be held thereby in said raised position References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 255,771 Carpenter Apr. 4, 1882 1,849,145 Illig Mar. 15, 1932 2,571,071 Smith Oct. 9, 1951 2,690,948 Seyter g Oct. 5, 1954 

